Childhood Conditions and Late-Life Health: Introduction

摘要

Many areas of scientific investigation are increasingly focused on the role of early life experiences on late-life health (Kuh and Ben-Shlomo, 1997). A number of physiological links between early and late life have been proposed. Barker and colleagues were responsible for bringing the fetal origins hypothesis to widespread recognition in the literature. This hypothesis emphasizes the role of mother's nutritional status as a key mechanism linking fetal and early childhood conditions to organ development and subsequent onset of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and kidney problems (Barker, 1998). Additional mechanisms linking early and later life have been suggested by other researchers. Davey Smith and colleagues suggested that early bouts of diarrhea and dehydration result in later life hypertension (Davey Smith et al., 2006; Lawlor et al., 2006).